May 9, 2008, 4:14 pm

Website Design

Colour

 

Where the use of colour is concerned, I like to adapt Henry Ford's maxim for the Model T. Unless you are a gifted designer, you can design a page with any colour you like, as long as its background is white and the typography is black.

White is the great unifier. As Matisse and others of the Fauve school discovered, if the background of a canvas is predominantly white, one can place any number of colours against it, colours that are possibly discordant in another context, and still maintain a harmonious composition. Which is why a plain white page can be used as a successful backdrop for colour photographs and illustrations. Balance is crucial though; lose too much of the white and you run the risk of the colours clashing. For a splendid example of a somewhat challenged design sensibility, take a look at this page. It belongs to someone who should know better, self-styled "Web guru" Jakob Nielsen. To be fair to Nielsen (as if he's worried), the man has some good advice to impart. Just don't ask him to choose your jacket, shirt and tie combination.

Coloured fonts can be of great use, particularly for hypertext. Keep in mind tonal contrasts, which are important. Can your reader see that ever so carefully chosen shade of powder blue?

Although this cheeky coral and lemon chiffon combination contributed to that Andalusian kitchen you so coveted in the Sunday papers, do you really think it will keep a reader glued to your page?

I use white to pull everything together. Text is mostly dark grey or black, although code is displayed in navy blue. Hypertext will be discussed later, but uses standard colours for web links. I use some shades of grey to delineate different areas of a page. For the left-hand vertical navigation menu I have used a pale grey background and another, slightly darker shade, for the footer. Greys need careful choosing, not just for tonal reasons. They can be cold, or warm, and like any colour can set a mood. I try and create an atmosphere of openess on this site, to give the content a sense of space. Incorrect choice of colour can so easily detract from the content. Any high key colour is reserved for the occasional diagram and, of course, my paintings.

Succesful design comes from adopting the KISS principle. Keep It Simple Sunshine. Unfortunately achieving simplicity, with just about anything, is easier said than done.

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Copyright © 2008 John McSweeney